ie beyond the pale (p. 21). Here the
Britons must have remained Celtic, or at least capable of a reversion to
the Celtic tradition. Here, at any rate, a Celtic revival was possible.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SEQUEL, THE CELTIC REVIVAL IN THE LATER EMPIRE

So far we have considered the province of Britain as it was while it
still remained in real fact a province. Let us now turn to the sequel
and ask how it fits in with its antecedents. The Romanization, we find,
held its own for a while. The sense of belonging to the Empire had not
quite died out even in sixth-century Britain. Roman names continued to
be used, not exclusively but freely enough, by Britons. Roman 'culture
words' seem to occur in the later British language, and some at least of
these may be traceable to the Roman occupation of the island. Roman
military terms appear, if scantily. Roman inscriptions are occasionally
set up. The Romanization of Britain was plainly no mere interlude, which
passed without leaving a mark behind.[1] But it was crossed by two
hostile forges, a Celtic revival and an English invasion.

[Footnote 1: Much of the ornamentation used by post-Roman Celtic art
comes from Roman sources, in particular the interlaced or plaitwork,
which has been well studied by Mr. Romilly Allen. But how far it was
borrowed from Romano-British originals and how far from similar
Roman-provincial work on the Continent, is not very clear. (See p. 36.)]

The Celtic revival was due to many influences. We may find one cause for
it in the Celtic environment of the province. After 407 the Romanized
area was cut off from Rome. Its nearest neighbours were now the
less-Romanized Britons of districts like Cornwall and the foreign Celts
of Ireland and the north. These were weighty influences in favour of a
Celtic revival. And they were all the more potent because, in or even
before the period under discussion, the opening of the fifth century, a
Celtic migration seems to have set in from the Irish coasts. The details
of this migration are unknown, and the few traces which survive of it
are faint and not altogether intelligible. The principal movement was
that of the Scotti from North Ireland into Caledonia, with the result
that, once settled there, or perhaps rather in the course of settling
there, they went on to pillage Roman Britain. There were also movements
in the south, but apparently on a smaller scale and a more peaceful
plan.[1] At a date given commonly as